Famous Birthdays

Sir Isaac Newton

ABOUTPhysicist and mathematician who became one of the most influential scientist of all time for formulating the three basic laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. He built the first practical reflecting telescope and his work helped Enlightenment thinkers rebel against Church theology.BEFORE FAMEHis mother wanted him to be a farmer, but the headmaster of King's School, Henry Stokes, convinced her to let him complete his education.TRIVIAHe and Gottfried Leibniz invented infinitesimal calculus, and his book, Principia Mathematical, became the basis of modern mathematics.FAMILY LIFEHe was born three months after the death of his father, a farmer also named Isaac; he had two stepsisters named Mary and Hannah and a stepbrother named Benjamin.ASSOCIATED WITHAlbert Einstein had a picture of Newton on his study wall, and was voted the greatest physicist of all time by leading scientists in 1999.